


Recovery

by Brandonatron0711



Series: The Roamings of a Monk [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 08:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8971276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brandonatron0711/pseuds/Brandonatron0711
Summary: One act of kindness can provide the spark to warm even the coldest, hardest heart.





	

Many years have passed since the Omnic Crisis shook the world. Some say the world has recovered from the tragedies of war, and although the battles have ended, most know that some wounds remain open, and will take much more than the absence of conflict to heal. Perhaps that is what drove me from my home with the Shambali in the mountains of Nepal. Quiet consideration and peaceful meditation in isolation has done little besides making my brethren seem distant and detached, and even the healing my brother Mondatta hopes to achieve covers too great of a scope at once and leaves many gaps. I chose to leave the monastery several months ago with the hope of achieving smaller victories: personal ones, by healing one heart at  a time.

Even in my brief time away from my home, I feel as though I have experienced the full scope of people's thoughts on my kind. Some have entirely forgiven my fellow omnics, paving the way to idylls of harmony and equality in which they can live. Many have chosen to put the past behind them, and regard me with little more attention than they would anyone else. Some hold a great reverence for the Shambali and offer me that same respect, while others find the events of the past, and with it my people, harder to forgive. However, nothing has compared to the pain and hatred felt by those in the most devastated communities. It is places like these that draw my attention, because despite the danger of it all, these are the places where the greatest healing can be achieved.

Early in my journey, I found myself in Vanavara, in the depths of Siberia. Once a fairly flourishing township, the chaos of the Omnic Crisis left it nothing more than a struggling community doing all they can to survive in a devastated landscape. Unsurprisingly, my arrival was met with a great deal of anger. The community was not well armed or well defended, and my life was not in danger, but the people of the village made their opinion on my presence very clear. I could only understand a small collection of the words thrown my way, but what I could understand had one thing in common. "You aren't welcome here, omnic!" "Leave, omnic!" "We hate you, omnic!" Every now and then, a villager would hurl rocks and dirt in my direction. They knew, of course, that their attacks could not hurt me, but they continued to do so, perhaps hoping to make their point clearer. Nonetheless, I continued ahead until I caught a glimpse of a shattered robotic frame and a bloody trail leading towards an alleyway, with unusual and familiar footprints pressed into the dirt leading in the other direction.

I followed the trail, which led me to a man, sat leaning against the wall and clutching his side. He was large and imposing, even in his wounded state, with shaggy dark hair and a large beard. He noticed my arrival and glanced up, the look of cautious curiosity on his face immediately replaced with scorn as he saw who, or rather, what, I was. He growled something in Russian at me, and when he realised I could not understand him, he scowled and spat on the ground before glaring back up at me.

"Do you speak English, tin man?" he grunted. "Or do you just hate wasting your time with us lowly humans?" He winced with pain as he shifted himself to face me. "I asked you what the hell you think you're doing here."

"I mean you no harm," I replied as I indicated to the steady red line I had followed. "I was passing through when I saw that trail of blood. You're badly injured."

The man growled. "What do you care?"

"I can help you," I said. "Your wounds could be fatal if you..."

He spat a curse at me in Russian. "I do not need help from one of you."

I was taken aback at the venom in his tone but continued. "If that wound is left untreated for much longer, the blood loss will kill you."

"Better that than to survive thanks to the help of an omnic." His tone was harsh and cold, but I could see fear lingering behind his eyes.

"As you wish," I said, backing away. A few moments passed before he coughed, a small spurt of blood bursting from his mouth as he did. He looked up at me with anger but gestured at me to come back.

"Wait, wait," he grunted. I made my way closer and he let out a sigh of resignation. "I suppose I'm not as brave as I had hoped. Do what you will, but if you try anything, the last thing I will do in this life will be to pull your head from your neck and crush it under my foot."

"I understand," I said, shaking off the fury of his threat as best as I could. I summoned one of the orbs from the chain around my neck and holding it between my hands. It began to glow gold and the man started. "Please do not be alarmed," I told him. "This is not a weapon. Not in this state, at least."

The man scowled. "You are not doing much to comfort me. What the hell is it, if it's not a weapon?"

"These orbs are conduits of omnic spiritual energy. They can be imbued with negative energies for use in self-defense, or they can take positive energies to be used in healing. I promise you, this is the latter."

The man scoffed. "Omnic spiritual energy. What a load of nonsense."

I ignored his rudeness. "I understand your skepticism. Many humans do not believe a machine can have a soul." I held the orb near the man's wound, indicating for him to move his hand. "However, belief and disbelief are irrelevant in this situation. All that matters is results." As I spoke, the blood stopped leaking from the wound, with the open gash gradually sealing and the line of broken flesh toughening and then lightening into a scar. I moved my hand and the orb followed, moving it over the collection of bruises and smaller cuts along his torso and face and watching carefully as they faded into nothingness. Eventually, I withdrew the orb and stood back. The man touched at his side, incredulous and confused. He looked up at me with a disbelieving expression.

"What did you do to me?" he asked, concerned.

"I channeled my nonsense to heal your wounds," I said with a tone of humour. His expression remained stony. "I promise you there will be no side effects beyond the inevitable scarring." I waited for some kind of response, but, when none came, I decided to press on. "Would you mind telling me what happened?"

The man scowled again. "Distrust of your kind in general is not the only reason I refused your help." He began to stand and I offered him a hand, which he swatted away. At full height, he towered over me, menacingly large, and I suddenly realised the threat he made earlier was not idle exaggeration. "It was your people who did this to me."

"My people?" I asked with surprise. "I was not aware there were any omnic settlements in this area."

"No official ones," he replied coldly. "If I had it my way, there would not be any at all. There's a gang of omnic thugs who have been harassing this town for years, and things have only gotten worse since the conflicts between humans and omnics flared up again. They call themselves the Stal' Vosstaniyem. The Steel Uprising. All they seem to want is to restart the Omnic Crisis in earnest by assaulting and harassing humans to try and bait a response. Of course, their efforts had very little to do with what people are calling the Second Omnic Crisis, but they like to think they did something."

"And it was them who attacked you?" I pressed him to continue.

"Attack is too generous of a word. Two of them ambushed me like cowards, coming out from hiding and stabbing me in the side. I expect they would have liked to do more had I not seized one of them and cracked his head like a walnut. The other one ran as soon as that happened and left me to bleed. That was when the wound started to get the better of me and I had to start crawling away."

"Was there any reason they targeted you?" I asked. "Did you do something to draw their attention?"

"I am human and I was the first person to walk past their hiding place," he growled. "That was likely more than enough." He paused and sighed. "You are right, though. They have been a thorn in this town's for a long while and I have chosen to return the favour recently by doing all I can to counter them. I believe they wanted to solve that problem as quickly as they could, but they underestimated how much they would need to deal with me."

I paused for a few moments, deep in thought and internal debate. Eventually, a grunt from the man drew me back into reality. "Do you know where they are based?"

"Why? Am I supposed to believe you can 'negative energy' them away?"

"My people, the Shambali, are renowned diplomats. Perhaps I can speak with them."

The man let out a guffaw of legitimate amusement and surprise. "Speak with them? The Stal' Vosstaniyem will make scrap of you if you try and convince them to leave us be." He stopped for a second and a grin spread across his face. "Then again, better you than on of my own. If you are lucky, they will send you running with your orbs between your legs. If not, one less omnic to deal with." He pointed up towards a small, craggy mountain with gravelly slopes nearby. "Last time I went to harass them, they had their encampment set up there. I can escort you there, if only to see some omnics trash each other in the inevitable fight you are about to start."

Again, I ignored his comment. "I would appreciate that. Lead the way."

The man grunted and we began to make our way to the encampment. An hour passed without a single word spoken, and by the time we arrived at our destination, I was almost happy to have to face the Stal' Vosstaniyem, if only to break the silence.

The settlement was walled in by an improvised palisade, with a seemingly random layout of collected defenses such as bear traps and wooden spikes. The man leaned down to me with an unsettling smile on his face.

"I would wish you good luck, but whatever happens here means little to me either way. Make it entertaining if things go poorly for you, at least."

"Your concern is appreciated," I replied sardonically. He snorted and gestured for me to go ahead.

I continued along to their gate until I heard a shout in Russian. A few moments passed until the voice eventually spoke again, this time in English. "You deaf, motherfucker? Who are you?"

"My name is Tekhartha Zenyatta. I have come to speak with the Stal' Vosstaniyem."

"A monk? What the fuck?" the guard responded incredulously. "What the hell would one of you pansies want with the Steel Uprising?"

"As I said, I would simply like to speak with one of your superiors."

The guard paused for a few moments before chuckling. "Whatever, monk. I'll let you in, but we'll be watching you. Try any shit and you'll regret it."

With that, the gate slid open with a loud groan and I made my way through. Their camp was a ramshackle collection of quickly assembled huts and tents, some of which were marked as weapon depots, shelters, and repair shops. At least thirty, possibly forty omnics were milling about the camp, many of them carrying weapons. The guard approached and pulled me aside brusquely.

"I don't know why one of you peace-loving hippie spirituals would bother coming here but we're about to find out. Just so you know, I'll have a gun pressed to your back the entire time. Do anything funny and there's going to be a bullet in your core before you can say tranquility."

"I appreciate the warning. May we continue?"

The guard prodded me in the back with a grunt, leading me towards one of the larger buildings. When we arrived, he rapped on the door in a series of taps and the door cracked slightly open. "We've got a visitor," he said. "Omnic monk." Apparently whoever was behind the door was just as incredulous as he had been. "I know, I don't know what the fuck he's doing here either, but he's here. Open the door, he wants to talk with the boss."

Eventually, the figure behind the door pulled it open and allowed them in, looking me up and down as I was shoved inside. There were five omnics in the room including the one at the door, but my attention was immediately drawn to the one sitting in a chair at the head of the room. His chassis was heavily scarred, with four lights on his forehead in a diamond pattern, one of which was flickering and cracked. He had a bearskin draped over his shoulders and ammunition strapped over his chest, with a large gun resting across his lap. He glanced up as we entered, and gestured to a pair of cushions on the floor at the foot of his chair.

"Boss, this is the one who wanted to see you," the gate guard said. The seated omnic nodded, staring me down as I sat.

"Well, this is an unexpected pleasure," he said. "Never would've thought I'd get a Shambali monk in my ranks. Not sure what use we'll have for you, but we'll find something. My name is Alexei Kovalenko. I lead the Stal' Vosstaniyem. Who might you be, monk?"

"My name is Tekhartha Zenyatta, and I regret to tell you that I am not here to join your crusade."

Kovalenko's broken light flickered more intensely. "Well, Zenyatta, what might you be here for?"

"I have come to negotiate the end of your attacks on the villagers of Vanavara and your departure from the area."

Kovalenko and his aides paused for a second of stunned silence before he broke into hysterical laughter. "You must be joking?" I remained silent and his laughter came to an abrupt stop. "Why the fuck would I do that? I have guns, I have plenty of soldiers who are a lot more resilient than those meatbags, and I have no reason to leave. Care to provide me with one?"

"I suppose me simply asking you to is not sufficient?"

"You suppose right, monk. You'd also do well to figure out a better reason fast. I'm getting impatient."

"Your efforts to reignite the fires of the Omnic Crisis by harassing innocent humans have done nothing but bring strife to the lives of those who already have more than their fair share of it," I said firmly.

"Nothing?" Kovalenko hissed. "You must be more detached than I thought in your little mountain hideaway. Russia is embroiled in a second Omnic Crisis and the shadow of war will no doubt spread across the world in time. I would hardly call that nothing."

"These events have occurred independently of you, whether you believe so or not. The world is perfectly aware of this second crisis and has chosen not to intervene specifically to avoid another war. Harassing a small community in the depths of the Siberian tundra will make no difference."

Kovalenko stood up. "You're a brave one to come here just to disrespect me." He paused and glanced at one of his aides, who picked up a gun from the table, with the other aides following suit. "I don't relish the idea of killing a fellow omnic. The humans are the real enemy, and every omnic lost is one less ally in the war to come. But from what I can tell, you're a lost cause, and any omnic willing to side with a human isn't worth keeping." He glanced up to the gate guard, whose gun barrel had not left my back since I had entered, and nodded.

"A pity," I sighed. "I had hoped for a peaceful compromise."

The guard was halfway through squeezing the trigger when I spun around. He was entirely caught off guard by the time my foot swung into the back of his head, throwing him to the floor as his gun flew from his grip. I snatched it from the air and twisted, hurling it towards another, who was knocked off backwards as the gun slammed into their chest and they fell through a nearby table. I ducked low as a spray of bullets flew towards me, swinging my foot into the legs of another aide and bringing them crashing to the floor. Another spray of bullets flew past and one glanced past my arm with a flash of sparks. I winced but shrugged it off. I drew an orb from my chain and hurled it towards the gunner, striking them in the forehead and knocking them down. Kovalenko watched in disbelief as I dashed away, grabbing the charging doorman by the chestplate and hurling him through the doorway, splintering the wood and opening the way for my escape. The omnics in the camp watched, startled and confused, as I sprinted from the hut and made my way towards the main gate.

Kovalenko stood at the entrance of his hut. "What are you morons waiting for? Shoot him already!"

The other omnics snapped out of their confusion and those of them who were carrying weapons leveled them towards me, opening fire. I focused my mind and my orbs began to whirl around my body, shielding me from the oncoming bullets as best as they could. A few stray shots hit their mark but my luck prevailed and I managed to escape. The bullets stopped behind me and I heard Kovalenko's voice bellowing at his underlings. Rather than stopping to listen, I continued on and found the man from the village still waiting where I had left him. He watched me approach with a stunned look on his face.

"Well, I have to admit, I am impressed," he said genuinely. "I never expected you to make it out of there."

"We should return to the village. Negotiations did not go smoothly."

"I can see that." He paused. "Why would you want to come back to the village? Those thugs are going to want your parts as scrap."

"There is every chance they could launch a counterattack as a result of my actions. It would be dishonourable, not to mention harmful to your people, for me to leave without offering my aid."

"You have a penchant for trying to help people who hate you, you know?" he told me.

I nodded. "I believe that the only way to heal the wounds of the past is to offer my help to those who need it, even if they choose not to accept it. Your people do not have to forgive me or my people for me to help them."

The man looked down at me with what may have been respect. "Very well. I will take you back to the village and we can prepare for their retribution. I hope you can muster the same luck then as you have now."

"As do I."

With that, we returned back to the village, this time discussing any way we could defend the village against the Stal' Vosstaniyem.

"We have a limited stock of weapons. Nowhere near enough for the whole village to be able to defend themselves."

"How many?" I asked.

"One for every ten, maybe?"

"I think I have an idea. Is there anywhere with a good vantage point over the village?"

"We have a church at the center. There may be room for one person in the bell tower."

"Very well. We should assemble every competent gunner in the village when we arrive." I paused before asking a risky question. "Do you trust me?"

The man looked down at me with an odd expression. "About as far as I can throw you."

"You are a large man and I am one of the sleeker models of omnic. I will take that as a yes."

The man chuckled briefly. "I'll follow your lead for this, if only because I know you can handle yourself. If anything goes wrong and the two of us are still standing, we can discuss the consequences then."

"Agreed. Thank you."

He nodded and they continued ahead. When they arrived, he escorted me to the church, showing me the way to the bell tower and ringing it to alert the townsfolk to meet in the town center. We descended again and I was met with the cautious and angry glares of the villagers once more.

"Why are you with this piece of junk?" one of them yelled.

"Listen!" he shouted back. "We don't have time for this. The Stal' Vosstaniyem are about to launch a full-scale attack on our village. As hard as it may be to believe, this omnic has proven that he has our best interests at heart, and he is here to help us. You have to set aside your prejudices at least for the meanwhile so that we can get through this alive." He stopped and gestured to me to explain my plan.

A few hours passed and the sky began to darken following the meeting as villagers prepared their defense. Before long, an alert sounded in the distance, indicating that a scout had spotted the Stal' Vosstaniyem approaching. I stood in the bell tower, taking a few moments of pause to prepare myself, and watched as they approached. I could see the soldiers splitting into small groups of five at most and beginning to surround the town, just as I expected them to. I kept an eye on each of the groups and watched as they edged closer to the small collections of people scattered around the village. Before long, one of the groups had engaged the villagers and I could hear the omnics shouting at the civilians. I drew an orb from my chain and began to charge it with energy, and within seconds of it reaching full power, the civilians dropped to the ground and one villager remained standing, quickly leveling a gun at the attackers. I hurled the orb towards him and reached his body just as he began to pull the trigger. The startled omnic soldiers gathered their wits and lifted their guns, but by the time they managed to pull the trigger, the villager had mowed most of them down. They managed to land a few shots and the villager winced but shrugged them off as my orb bathed him in a healing light. As planned, once the small squad of Stal' Vosstaniyem had been dealt with, the villager waved his hand in front of the orb to indicate that they were safe. 

There were only five other squads left, all of which were picked off with the same tactic. Before long, there was only one group left, making its way towards the town center. A shot rang out and whizzed past my head, smashing into the bell with a deafening clang. I ducked into cover and heard Kovalenko's voice shouting.

"You can come out of hiding, monk! We know you're up there. Come face me instead of cowering like an animal!"

I sighed and made my way to the ladder. I could only hope that the plan would not fall apart now. I climbed down and exited the church, met with ten soldiers and Kovalenko, all of whom were pointing their guns in my direction.

"There he is," Kovalenko said. "You know, for a pacifist, you've caused me a hell of a lot of trouble today."

"I have not harmed anyone other than in acts of self-defense," I replied.

"Typical dancing around the point. You couldn't have seriously believed that we'd just abandon this cause because you came in and asked."

"I can always hope." I glanced past him at the sight of a flashlight blinking. "It would have been much easier on you if you had."

"I never would've thought a monk would be so cocky," Kovalenko growled. "I was willing to give you a chance to leave, but your attitude has changed my mind. I'm sorry, Zenyatta, but this is the end for you."

"May I say one more thing?" I asked.

Kovalenko sighed. "Fine. One more thing."

I nodded thankfully. "Open fire."

"What?" Kovalenko said in disbelief. I focused every ounce of my attention and energy into my orbs and they began to spin rapidly around my body before flashing a gleaming orange. A set of six orange, spectral arms burst from my back, channeling my energy into them and releasing a consistent pulse of energy as the sound of bullets tore through the air. Kovalenko's soldiers began to fire, flailing desperately between shooting at me and whipping around to attack the gunmen who had snuck through the village to surround them in the square, but their bullets landed to no avail as the wounds they dealt were instantly healed. Before long, Kovalenko's soldiers lay broken on the ground, and Kovalenko himself had been shot in the leg and knelt crippled before me. My orbs slowed and returned to their original position around my neck, and I paused to gather my energy again before looking down to Kovalenko.

"I warned you, Kovalenko," I said. "The Shambali may be pacifists, but we are taught from the moment of our ordination into the monastery to defend ourselves and others."

"Were you taught to betray your own as well?" he snarled. "My aim was to free every omnic from the shackles of human oppression, and your actions have gotten in the way of that."

"You may have forgotten, but thousands of omnic lives were lost in the Omnic Crisis. Humans were not the only ones to suffer, and people of both races are still living with the consequences. To begin another war of that scale would do nothing but bring about more such losses."

"Spare me, monk. If you're going to kill me, I'd prefer to go without having to listen to your sermons."

"I have no intention of killing you," I said, drawing out another orb. "That would be unnecessary." I began to channel energy into the orb, and it began to swirl with a dark shadow. "Instead, I will simply give you the better reason to leave that you asked me for." I knelt down, holding the darkened orb next to Kovalenko's head. His lights began to flicker frantically. "During the Omnic Crisis, the Russian military was the only group in the planet that managed to fight back the omnic armies entirely on their own. These people have survived far worse than you, especially now that your soldiers have been destroyed. You stand alone in the midst of some of the most tenacious and strong-willed humans in the world. Do you really think you can do what a thousands-strong army could not?" I paused briefly, if only to indulge in dramatic effect. "And I want you to remember me. I take no joy in violence, but when the lives of innocents are at stake, I will do what I must. And if I find any evidence of the Stal' Vosstaniyem after this day, I will prove that to you one more time. Do we understand each other?" Kovalenko nodded desperately and I lifted my hand away, withdrawing the orb. "Very well. Now, go."

Kovalenko scrambled up and limped away as quickly as he could, vanishing into the darkness of the Siberian night. The villagers around me watched him walk away before turning back to me. They still had not lowered their guns. Then, a familiar voice bellowed from behind them.

"For God's sake, put them down," the man commanded. "Has he not proven himself enough?"

One by one, the villagers lowered their weapons and allowed the man to step through.

"You did well," he said. "I think I ought to avoid getting on your bad side." I laughed. "But regardless, you helped save our village, and for that I thank you."

"It was me who put your village in danger to begin with. I require no thanks."

"Still, you deserve it. Without you, we may have had to deal with the Stal' Vosstaniyem for years to come. So thank you." I nodded and he continued. "I do not think I am ready to forget the Omnic Crisis quite yet, and it will take a while for the people of Russia to be able to trust your kind, but I find myself trusting you. I hope we may leave today as friends."

"Of course," I said warmly. "I am honoured to have earned your trust." I paused before catching myself. "I just realised, I never asked you your name. If we are to be friends, that may be a good place to start."

The man smiled and extended a hand, which I shook. "My name is Dmitri Zaryanova."


End file.
